Marvel Studios join the growing exhibitor line-up with introduction of new Cosplay category dedicated to 10 Years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Middle East, 7 MARCH 2018: Middle East Film and Comic Con (www.mefcc.com), the definitive pop culture festival in the Middle East, announces more celebrities to join its line-up including acclaimed Stranger Things’ actor, Natalia Dyer; Cosplayer Alodia Gosiengfiao; and the voices behind Noctis in Final Fantasy XV, Ray Chase, Marvel’s Spider-Man on Disney XC, Robbie Daymond, and Saitama in One-Punch Man, Max Mittelman. Netflix is also set to participate in this year’s festival to coincide with the unveiling of the trailer for its new series, Lost in Space (released today). And Disney’s Marvel Studios have confirmed participation in the show to celebrate 10 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Set to run from 5th to 7th April, 2018, at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), tickets are now on sale online (www.mefcc.com)and at Virgin Megastore outlets across the GCC.

NATALIA DYER, AKA NANCY WHEELER IN STRANGER THINGS, CONFIRMED

Star of award-winning Netflix science fiction drama series Stranger Things, Natalia Dyer is easily recognized for her breakout role as the feisty, funny and determined Nancy Wheeler making her the talk of the town – chatter that’s likely to follow her all the way to Middle East Film and Comic Con.

GET LOST IN SPACE… WITH NETFLIX!

Netflix have announced participation at MEFCC and revealed the first trailer for their latest sci-fi extravaganza, Lost in Space and it looks awesome!

Set 30 years in the future, colonization in space is now a reality, and the Robinson family is among those tested and selected to make a new life for themselves in a better world. But when the new colonists find themselves abruptly torn off course en route to their new home they must forge new alliances and work together to survive in a dangerous alien environment, lightyears from their original destination.

What does this mean for Netflix at MEFCC…?

HUAWEI COSPLAY CONTEST

International Cosplay starAlodia Gosiengfiao, and a new category from Disney’s Marvel Studios confirmed for the Huawei Cosplay Contest. High excitement, equally high cash prizes, and handsets from Huawei are up for grabs.

The Middle East’s largest Cosplay contest now features a new category powered by Disney’s Marvel Studios as an opportunity to celebrate 10 Years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This will be exclusive to characters within the universe and a 3,000 US Dollars prize will be awarded to the category winner. There is a top prize of 800 US Dollars for each of the other categories.

Marvel Studios will also be bringing a 10 years’ exhibit to the show, along with other character themed activations.

Alodia Gosiengfiao – International Cosplayer

International cosplayer, model, TV presenter, singer, actress Alodia Gosiengfiao wears her many hats and costumes with aplomb. Named one of the Most Influential Women in the Philippines, she has since her beginning in 2003, cosplayed over 40 anime, video game and movie titles, appearing in various local and international conventions as a participant, performer, judge or guest. As a celebrity endorser, she is one of the ambassadors and VJ for Animax – Asia known as the “Ani-mates” and co-host of ABS – CBN’s prank show Laugh Out Loud.

Alodia will also be the judge of the Huawei Cosplay Contest.

Deadline for registration is 18th March 2018 (Register here: www.mefcc.com)

VOICE ARTISTS ANNOUNCED

Ray Chase

Ray Chase is an actor and voice over artist who has attached himself to a great many video games and anime in a very short time. He is best known for being the main character Noctis in Final Fantasy XV, Master of Masters from Kingdom Hearts, Artorius from Tales Of Berseria, Roy/Gauis/Alphonse/Fernand from Fire Emblem, Eve from Nier Automata, and his most celebrated role as the Subway Announcer in Persona 5! He’s also made minor appearances in Mass Effect Andromeda, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Deus Ex: MD, Xenoblade Chronicles X and Tyranny. His anime roles include Keith Flick in B: The Beginning, Puri Puri Prisoner in One Punch Man, Yuu Otosaka in Charlotte, Yukiatsu in Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, Howzer in Seven Deadly Sins, Hanzo/Squala in Hunter x Hunter, Rubber Soul in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, as well as joining the casts of Your Name, Berserk, Mob Pscyho 100, Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans, Blue Exorcist, Fairy Tail, and many others. For a change, he’s joining the cast at Middle East Film & Comic Con this year and is certainly gearing up to make himself heard, seen and talked about.

Robbie Daymond

Robbie Daymond is a full-time voice-over artist and actor. He has performed in over sixty theatrical productions and is an accomplished leading man and character actor in film and television. Robbie has also been a voice, movement, and acting instructor for the past seven years. He voices lead character SwaySway in the Nickelodeon cartoon Breadwinners, Blake Myers in the Nick cartoon Get Blake! He also voices the title character in Marvel’s Spider-Man, which aired on Disney XD in 2017. In anime and video games he voices Tuxedo Mask in the Viz re-dub of Sailor Moon, Mumen Rider in One-Punch Man, Sorey in Tales of Zestiria, Joe Kido in Digimon Adventure tri. and Prompto Argentum in Final Fantasy XV.

Max Mittelman

A Los Angeles native, Max has been entertaining audiences from behind the mic, onstage, and in front of the camera since he was in high school. His fearlessness has been the foundation for his versatility and he’s enjoyed creating a wide range of characters for TV animation and video games.

Although he is well known as Saitama in One-Punch Man, he’s also given life to the hotheaded troublemaker with a heart of gold, Ryuji, in PERSONA 5, the carefree and always hungry, Plagg, in Miraculous Ladybug, and the lazy yet virtuous sin of sloth, King, from Seven Deadly Sins.

All three Voice Actors are part of L.A.V.A and will be doing a comedy SKIT at MEFCC.

WHAT IS LAVA? LAVA is when three prolific and acclaimed voice actors get together and get real silly. This show is a high-energy, balls-to-the-wall, audience participative, multimedia driven fan-friendly experience! It can run 60 or 90 minutes, and consists of several interchangeable segments that are constantly being updated. Giveaways, audience participation, music, video, and more are all instrumental to this production!

ALL WORKSHOPS. ALL PLAY

An interesting and exciting line up of workshops led by some of the best names in the industry including Disney Artist James C. Mulligan, Adam Kubert, Lloyd Briggery, Bob Hoffman, and Des Taylor among others are in store for Middle East Film & Comic Con fans. Anime 101, Science Fiction Art, Cinematography and Retro Style are few of the topics being discussed and explored at sessions that will be conducted from April 5 to 7 slotted between 1 pm all the way to 9 pm each day.

THE INTERNATIONAL ARTIST ALLEY GETS MORE AWESOME WITH MORE CREATORS

Creating and selling original artwork to visitors, artists from across the world converge at MEFCC.

Yishan Li

Returning to MEFCC to meet her fans, Yishan Li is a professional British comic/manga artist currently living in Shanghai.

Yishan Li has been drawing since 1998 and has been published internationally including USA, France, Germany, Italy and the UK. Her latest projects include Buffy the high school years graphic novels published by Darkhorse and Lady Di & Me published by GLENAT in France. She's now working on a new book called Sugar to be published by Top Cow this year.

Flaviano Armentaro

Flaviano Armentaro has been working in the comics and animation industry for fifteen years. He graduated from Brera Academy of Fine Arts, with a bachelor of sculpture and currently lives and works in Rome. Flaviano has handled storyboarding and character design for Filmax, Motionworks, Xilam, Rai, Vodafone, Decathlon, Ferrero, Zodiak, Graphilm and Rainbow. His comics have been published by Disney Publishing, Sergio Bonelli Editore, Marvel and DC Comics. He designed the cross-media series Cooking Time with Red Whale. He illustrated covers for the Skynner Boys book series for Fabbri Editori. He has been awarded with a Micheluzzi Award in 2010 for best webcomic. Flaviano is currently working on Nola, a series published by Dargaud (France), Harley Quinn for DC Comics (USA), I Am Groot, America, Power Man & Iron Fist for Marvel Comics (USA) and Dylan Dog for Sergio Bonelli (Italy).

Marco Failla

Marco Failla is an Italian comic artist based in Sicily. Since 2002 he has worked as a penciler and inker for various European and American publishers. Among his collaborations: Parachute (Goosebumps), Red Whale (Monster Allergy), Image Comics (Masters of the Universe), Hasbro (Transformers), Disney (Real Life), Soleil (Hero Corp) and various Italian kids magazines. In 2014 he started working for DC Comics (Harley Quinn), Marvel Comics (X-Campus, Spider-Man and the X-Men, House of M, Guardians of the Galaxy Infinite, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Captain Marvel, Max Ride, Ms. Marvel, All New Wolverine, Marvel Rising) and Aftershock Comics (Jackpot).

TICKET OFFERING EXPANDED

With weeks to go until the event, you can count on MEFCC to announce lots more celebrities and lots more fun activities to take part in at the show. All VIP passes are now sold out and will not be available to buy at the show.

Due to the popular demand of the VIP offering, Power Pass tickets have been upgraded to enhance the premium experience opportunities at the event. Now named theAl Awal Premium Pass, to recognize the additional inclusions – all existing Power Pass Holders will have their inclusions automatically upgraded. The cost remains the same (AED 350).

Al Awal Premium Pass Includes:

3-Day Access to MEFCC (Worth AED250)

1 x Meet the Stars: Photo OR Autograph Voucher (Worth AED180)

Exclusive MEFCC Limited Edition Poster (Worth AED500)

(NEW) VIP early access to MEFCC on Thursday 5th from 12pm – 2pm

(NEW) VIP Lounge Access

(NEW) VIP Fast Track into MEFCC

(NEW) VIP Fast Track to meet the stars

Plus, one special Al Awal Premium Pass holder will be surprised with a special portrait drawing by Simpson’s Artist, Phil Ortiz during the show!

Al Awal Premium Pass packages cost AED350, including VIP and are available for advance sales only until 18 March – they will NOT be available to buy at the show!

Grab your MEFCC tickets now. Available online (www.mefcc.com) and at Virgin Megastore outlets across the GCC.